Calibration Planner
The bias/dark/flat/dark-flat sets a light session needs — counts from a noise budget, flat target ADU, and reuse-vs-re-shoot against your master library by gain · offset · temp · exposure · filter · rotation.
Dark-flats (matched to the flat exposure) calibrate the flats — the modern-CMOS default; CMOS bias can be unstable.
A master of N frames adds 1/N of a single frame's variance → N ≥ ⌈1/α⌉. Bias is cheap (≥50); darks/flats are capped where the curve flattens.
A temp-matched dark at a nearby exposure (0.5–2×) can be scaled (linear in exposure, ×2 per 6°C) instead of re-shot — sound only on low-amp-glow sensors.
Backyard Widefield · this session
0 masters on file
Flat exposure time is panel-dependent — the planner gives the target ADU (aim the panel/exposure at it); the time budget uses your estimate. Darks dominate the budget (300s × N). Reuse windows: bias 180d · darks 60d · flats 7d & only while the train is undisturbed.